2017 UG056 Recovery and Resilience for Refugees and Vulnerable Children in Uganda

The Bidibidi refugee settlement in Yumbe district was opened early August, 2016, and grew from a largely empty overgrown savannah land to a sprawling settlement currently hosting around 270.000 refugees, making it one of the largest refugee hosting sites worldwide. According to TPO, the refugee children and young people in Bidibidi experience and enact significant distress in response to their circumstances and experiences. There is very limited mental health and psychosocial support available in the Bidibidi settlement, for which the gap in services providing life skills to children and youth is significant. The main goal of this project is therefore to build the life skills among children and youth, imparting a supporting environment for them at home by also directly targeting caregivers of the children and youth involved in the programme. The objectives of the project are to enable children and young people to build their resilience through the development of positive social and emotional skills allowing them to cope with their experiences of conflict, displacement, and vulnerability and better prepare them to withstand future shocks. War Child Holland will fulfill these objectives by using its unique play based methodology as a foundation for community engagement. By focusing on the development of critical life skills such as teamwork, communication and confidence and alongside this, facilitating the opportunity for youth to engage in leadership roles in their communities, youth will be empowered to make positive life choices.